PGA Championship 2012: Why Unknown Is Sure to Dominate Ocean Course

The 2012 PGA Championship will be won by an unknown golfer this summer.

So far, through the season's first three major tournaments, two have been won by first-time major winners, and the other was won by a golfer who hadn't won in nearly a decade. 

If Bubba Watson's inexplicable victory at the Masters tells us anything, if Webb Simpson's U.S. Open title is any indication, then an unknown will dominate the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island this coming weekend.

Just look at the last three PGA Championship tournament winners. Keegan Bradley won his first career major at the event in 2011. A year before it was Germany's Martin Kaymer taking home the title, another first-time major winner. In 2009, South Korea's Yang Yong-eun won his first career major at the PGA Championship.

Why would 2012 be any different?

Although big names like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have lifted the Wanamaker Trophy in recent years, neither has accomplished enough as of late to suggest that they are anything more than a threat to win. Woods and Mickelson may be favorites at the Ocean Course, but only because of their impressive resumes.

Even Ernie Els' win at Royal Lytham last month came as a heart-stopping surprise. Els is far from an unknown, but the South African came out of nowhere to win the British Open. The theme is sure to continue at Ocean Course. 

The favorites will be among the leaders in the final round at Kiawah Island, that's for sure. But an unknown player will dominate the course at this year's PGA Championship. 

If history and the major trend of 2012 tell us anything, it's that predicting a winner this weekend will be near impossible. 

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